Tag Archives: Oxford

LJ just released E-Reference Ratings, “an evaluation of nearly 180 subscription based electronic resources in 14 subject categories.” Of course, many of these are eBook platforms like Britannica, Credo, GVRL, Oxford, and Sage. There was no category for eBooks, instead you’ll find them listed under the various subject categories.

Products were reviewed by a team of 8 reference experts and included 7 criteria: scope, writing, design, linking, bells & whistles, ease of use, value. Resources were given a star rating, 1 to 4 stars to indicate * poor, ** satisfactory, ***good, ****excellent A brief paragraph also accompanied each resource.

According to LJ, “Because we know that online resources continually grow and evolve—a list of this nature can date quickly—E-Reference Ratings, which made a print debut in the November 15th Reference Announcements issue, will find its permanent home and reach its full potential on our web site. We intend not only to keep up with these ever-changing products (adjusting the ratings as necessary) but also to expand the number of databases in each category and venture into new ones. We hope to hear from all parties—librarians, publishers, and vendors—about how we can keep this tool thriving and make it even more useful.”

My recent discussion with Cynthia Cleto from Springer got me thinking about some issues. I’m curious if Springer’s model – no DRM and ILL rights – is unique or if other ebook publishers and aggregators offer similar things. To me, it’s a superior blend, but I’m thinking that most publishers and aggregators feel it’s a toxic cocktail….

DRM – Digital Rights Management. Springer uses none. What about others? I know the services with one book – one user biz models use DRM to control access and checkout/due dates. But, there are many other services with unlimited simultaneous user access, full print and cut/paste features. Are they using DRM? Ones that come to mind are GVRL, Sage, Oxford, Greenwood, and Credo.

Interlibrary Loan – wow, I’ve never heard of any eBook service offering ILL. Springer allows full ILL on its content, following normal ILL procedures. Is anyone else doing this? Typically, ebooks and ILL don’t mix, which is a major disadvantage of ebooks, probably one that is preventing many from taking the eBook route. Traditionally, we’ve been able to send most of our purchased items via ILL, but with the advent of licensing agreements and authorized uses, we are losing our ILL rights. It’s nice to see that Springer is not following that road.

I think I’ll start investigating more about DRM and ILL in the eBook world. That will give me something else to rant about instead of my usual rant – one single platform!

If you have comments or more information on these issues, I’d love to hear them.

John Barnes – Yes, but in a different form – digital and more interactive. The transformation is already happening. The first step is to get our collections online, which we are doing now. This might help to ease the “if it isn’t online it doesn’t exist” philosophy of researchers

Rolf Janke – Yes, but google and other web based vendors might share the stage with us.5 years ago google was a threat, now they are partners.

Michael Ross – Yes, but the vocabulary will change. We won’t have collections or series, ‘search’ will become ‘find,’ and there will be more birthing of products online. Reference will need to become unbound – in a more transparent environment that address the needs of a variety of people.

Casper Grathwohl – We are not dying, we are knowledge factories. All of us, including Wikipedia, have a place in the environment. The information is there, we need to determine how to define it and add value to it, and there is no lack of ideas on which direction to go.